strlen

[nikko50]

Hello all. I'm trying to understand why a seamingly empty variable has a string length of 2.

  $get="select * from customers where id=$fields[0]";
  $getresult=mysql_query($get, $link) or print (mysql_error());
  $getline=mysql_fetch_array($getresult, MYSQL_ASSOC) or print (mysql_error());

$mm = strlen($getline[intranet]);
print "$mm<br>";

This prints 2 each time even though the $getline[intranet] field is blank. What could be the problem??

[NogDog]

I would guess that there are a couple of "white-space" characters (spaces, newlines, tabs, etc.) in the value. You might want to try something like the following:

$string = $getline['intranet'];
$chars = array();
for($i=0; $i<strlen($string); $i++)
{
   $chars[] = sprintf('%03d', ord($string[$i]));
}
echo implode(' | ', $chars);

This will show you the ascii values of any/all characters in the string.

If that is the case and it's a problem, you can simply [man]trim/man the variable to get rid of them.

[nikko50]

Here's what I get with your code. What does it mean?

013 | 010084 | 072 | 073 | 083 | 032 | 073 | 083 | 032 | 065 | 032 | 082 | 069 | 076 | 079 | 032 | 070 | 079 | 082 | 032 | 049 | 048 | 054 | 013 | 010013 | 010013 | 010084 | 072 | 073 | 083 | 032 | 073 | 083 | 032 | 065 | 032 | 082 | 069 | 076 | 079 | 032 | 070 | 079 | 082 | 032 | 053 | 055 | 057 | 056 | 013 | 010013 | 010013 | 010013 | 010084 | 072 | 073 | 083 | 032 | 073 | 083 | 032 | 065 | 032 | 082 | 069 | 076 | 079 | 032 | 070 | 079 | 082 | 032 | 053 | 056 | 055 | 052 | 013 | 010013 | 010013 | 010013 | 010013 | 010013 | 010013 | 010013 | 010013 | 010013 | 010013 | 010013 | 010

[NogDog]

Looks like each value ends in a carriage return (013) followed by a newline (010), including the "empty" fields. If you don't want them, then use [man]trim[/man] to strip them off before processing the value further.

[nikko50]

Thanks for your help!
Tracy🙂